University of North Carolina School of Law Appoints Seven Women to Endowed Chairs

The School of Law at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has recently appointed 10 faculty members to endowed chairs, seven of whom are women.

Kaci Bishop has been named the Martha Brandis Term Professor. She has been with the School of Law faculty for over 10 years, and currently serves as director of the Immigration Clinic. Her academic interests include experiential and legal pedagogy, academic excellence, and humanitarian immigration law.

Bishop is a graduate of Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, where she majored in sociology. She received her juris doctorate from the University of North Carolina.

Alexa Chew has been named the George R. Ward Term Professor. She first joined the university in 2012 and teaches courses on legal research and writing. She is the co-author of The Complete Legal Writer (Carolina Academic Press, 2020) and The Complete Bar Writer (Carolina Academic Press, 2020).

Chew is a cum laude graduate of Princeton University where she majored in ecology and evolutionary biology. She received her juris doctorate from Duke University in North Carolina.

Barbara Fedders has been named the Reef C. Ivey II Excellence Fund Term Scholar. She joined the School of Law faculty in 2008 as a clinical assistant professor of law. She currently serves as director of clinical programs and faculty supervisor of the Youth Justice Center.

Fedders is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Dayton in Ohio. She received her juris doctorate from New York University.

Deborah Gerhardt has been named the Paul B. Eaton Distinguished Professor. She has been a professor with the university for the past 15 years. Her areas of expertise include entertainment, arts, and sports law; advertising and marketing law; and copyright, trademark, and intellectual property law.

Gerhardt holds a bachelor’s degree from Duke University and a juris doctorate from Case Western Reserve University in Ohio.

Osamudia James has been named the Henry P. Brandis Distinguished Professor. Before joining the School of Law faculty in 2021, she spent over a decade teaching law at the University of Miami. Her academic expertise includes administrative law, civil rights and discrimination, education law, and race and the law.

James earned her bachelor’s degree at the University of Pennsylvania, a master of laws degree from the University of Wisconsin, and a juris doctorate from Georgetown University.

Maria Savasta-Kennedy has been named the George R. Ward Term Professor. She has been with the School of Law faculty since 1999 and currently serves as director of the externship program. Earlier in her career she served as an instructor of law at New York University.

Savasta-Kennedy is a two-time graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles where she received her bachelor’s degree in English literature and her juris doctorate.

Kathleen Thomas has been named the Aubrey L. Brooks Distinguished Professor. She joined the School of Law faculty in 2013 and currently serves as director of the Law Tax Institute. Her academic interests include federal income taxation, tax policy, and contracts law.

Thomas is a summa cum laude graduate of the College of William & Mary in Virginia where she majored in mathematics. She holds a master of laws degree in taxation and a juris doctorate from New York University.